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An excellent silent film made in Germany and making great use of the expressionist style of filmmaking from that era. Made by the same studio that produced The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari that same year. It was one of the first "monster" movies as well. This movie was a huge influence on James Whale when he made Frankenstein in 1931. It involves a Jewish community being persecuted by Christians. The J... read more

The granddaddy of Frankenstein movies, this too early German impressionist movie features Paul Wegener as the iconic Golem, an arcane monster by the star of David created. It is a fable that's more socially conscious than just say, scare the bejeesus out of little German children. Honestly, the story is a tad boring and badly acted but given its importance as a cinema classic, it is something you ... read more

Description:An excellent silent film made in Germany and making great use of the expressionist style of filmmaking from that era. Made by the same studio that produced The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari that same year. It was one of the first "monster" movies as well. This movie was a huge influence on James Whale when he made Frankenstein in An excellent silent film made in Germany and making great use of the expressionist style of filmmaking from that era. Made by the same studio that produced The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari that same year. It was one of the first "monster" movies as well. This movie was a huge influence on James Whale when he made Frankenstein in 1931. It involves a Jewish community being persecuted by Christians. The Jewish rabbi uses "black magic" to bring a clay statue to life in order to protect them from the Christian emperor. The cinematographer, Karl Freund, would go on to lens Fritz Lang's Metropolis in 1927 and Tod Browning's Dracula in 1931; and in the 50's he was the director of photography for the "I Love Lucy" show.... (more)(less)

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Treehouse of Horror XVII (season 18th, episode 17th), segment - ''You Gotta Know When to Golem''
''In a parody of The Golem, at the end of an episode of Krusty's show, Bart goes backstage to complain about an acid-spraying Krusty brand alarm clock. There he finds the Golem of Prague, a creature from Jewish mythology. Krusty tells Bart that in the seventeenth century, the Golem was sculpted out of clay by a powerful rabbi. The Golem would do anything written on a scroll and placed in his mouth"

“This might be one of those films which you watch as a completist, and nothing more. The Golem has a fantastic makeup job and a few standout sequences, but everything in-between is just painfully dull.

Other than Paul Wegener’s performance as the titular character, The Golem is filled to the brim with bad acting, the kind that makes people wary of silent films. Lyda Salmonova in particular seems half asleep much of the time, which I guess was supposed to suggest her being drunk on lust and erotic awakenings, but she just looks like she swallowed a Tylenol PM and is about to crash.

The sets and cinematography are first rate, but they’re not in the service of a great or interesting story. The film has a great setup, but then it quickly veers into a love triangle and ” read more

“The granddaddy of Frankenstein movies, this too early German impressionist movie features Paul Wegener as the iconic Golem, an arcane monster by the star of David created. It is a fable that's more socially conscious than just say, scare the bejeesus out of little German children. Honestly, the story is a tad boring and badly acted but given its importance as a cinema classic, it is something you just have to see as a completist.” read more